Tips on Ways To Purchase and Look For Genuine Canadian Inuit Art (Eskimo Art) Sculptures

Lots of visitors to Canada will be exposed to Inuit art (Eskimo art) sculptures while exploring the country. Given that Inuit art has actually been getting more and more global exposure, people may be seeing this Canadian fine art form at museums and galleries situated outside Canada too. Presuming that the objective is to acquire an genuine piece of Inuit art rather than a low-cost traveler replica, the question arises on how does one tell apart the genuine thing from the fakes?

It would be quite frustrating to bring home a piece only to learn later that it isn't genuine or even made in Canada. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific art work, then it can be safely presumed that any Inuit art piece purchased from a regional northern shop or directly from an Inuit carver would be genuine. One would have to be more careful in other places in Canada, particularly in tourist locations where all sorts of other Canadian mementos such as t-shirts, hockey jerseys, postcards, crucial chains, maple syrup, and other Native Canadian arts are offered.

The most safe locations to purchase Inuit sculptures to ensure authenticity are constantly the respectable galleries that concentrate on Canadian Inuit art and Eskimo art. Some of these galleries have ads in the city tour guide found in hotels.

Trusted Inuit art galleries are likewise listed in Inuit Art Quarterly publication which is devoted completely to Inuit art. These galleries will normally be located in the downtown traveler areas of significant cities. When one walks into these galleries, one will see that there will be only Inuit art and possibly Native art but none of the other typical traveler mementos such as t-shirts or postcards . These galleries will have just authentic Inuit art for sale as they do not handle replicas or fakes . Just to be even safer, ensure that the piece you are interested in includes a Canadian government Igloo tag accrediting that it was handcrafted by a Canadian Inuit artist. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics but not all authentic pieces are signed. So be aware that an unsigned piece may still be certainly genuine.

Some of these Inuit art galleries also have sites so you might go shopping and purchase authentic Inuit art sculpture from home anywhere in the world. In addition to these street retail specialty galleries, there are now reliable online galleries that likewise specialize in genuine Inuit art.

Some tourist stores do bring genuine Inuit art as well as the other touristy souvenirs in order to cater to all types of tourists. Authentic Inuit sculpture is sculpted from stone and therefore needs to have some weight or mass to it. An genuine Inuit sculpture is a one of a kind piece of artwork and absolutely nothing else on the store racks will look exactly like it.

Where it becomes harder to determine credibility are with the recreations that are also made of stone. This can be a real gray area to those unfamiliar with authentic Inuit art. They do have mass and might even have some kind of tag indicating that it was handcrafted but if there are other pieces on the shelves that look too similar in detail, they are most likely not genuine. If a seller claims that such as piece is authentic, ask to see the main Igloo tag that features it which will know on the artist, location where it was made and the year it was sculpted. If the Igloo tag is not available, carry on. The authentic pieces with the accompanying official Igloo tags will constantly be the highest priced and are normally kept in a separate (perhaps even locked) rack within the Kurt Criter store.


Given that Inuit art has been getting more and more international exposure, individuals might be seeing this Canadian fine art type at museums and galleries located outside Canada too. If one is fortunate enough to be traveling in the Canadian Arctic where the Inuit live and make their terrific artwork, then it can be securely presumed that any Inuit art piece bought from a local northern shop or straight from an Inuit carver would be authentic. Respectable Inuit art galleries are also listed in Inuit Art Quarterly magazine which is dedicated entirely to Inuit art. The Inuit sculpture may be signed by the carver either in English or Inuit syllabics however not all authentic pieces are signed. Some of these Inuit art galleries also have websites so you could shop and buy authentic Inuit art sculpture from house anywhere in the world.